Juventus are in Asia for their pre-season tour and Luca Cetta looks at how it will aid preparations ahead of the new season.

Juventus jetted off from Milan’s Malpensa Airport on Sunday evening to embark on another leg of their pre-season preparations. Whilst it will take in thousands of air miles, President Andrea Agnelli recognised the importance of the Asian tour, reportedly telling the squad: “I know it will be a challenging tour, but do yourself proud and make the most of it.” His outlook would lean more towards the off-field benefits, but as far as the new season is concerned, it will be a significant fortnight.

Massimiliano Allegri took with him a 28-man squad, only missing Andrea Barzagli and Alvaro Morata through injury. The presence of Arturo Vidal – still the subject of constant speculation surrounding a move to Manchester United – on the plane was reassuring for Bianconeri supporters. While you can never say never on the transfer front, as each day passes the likelihood of a switch decreases.

Adding to that was Giuseppe Marotta’s referring to the: “timing issues to fulfil such a [transfer] request.” For Allegri and the club, the Chilean is a required and fundamental player. He didn’t feature against Cesena last week and so the tour represents a chance to shake off the knee injury which hampered his World Cup.

Another interesting aspect of the squad announcement was the names of Patrice Evra and Luca Marrone. The new French arrival was listed as a midfielder, an indication Allegri is sticking to the wing-back system. The Coach confirmed on Tuesday he will go with it for now and try alternatives later.

The inclusion of Marrone as a defender also offers a glimpse into his future. Naturally a central midfielder, he became the vice-Leonardo Bonucci in 2012. The 24-year-old proved an able replacement when required, but reverted to midfield at Sassuolo last term. His inclusion in a Juventus backline would be better suited to a three-man defence and this could be Marrone’s avenue into the squad this season.

Juve visit three countries on the tour, commencing with today’s contest against an Indonesia select side in Jakarta – where they were welcomed by fanatical locals in some breathtaking scenes. From the Indonesian capital the Bianconeri fly to Sydney and will meet old friend Alessandro Del Piero. He leads an A-League All Star team on Sunday for a first ever clash against his beloved Old Lady.

“It will be a special game, not only for me but for the Australian Federation and all the players,” Del Piero said. “It will certainly be exciting to come face to face with my old team. I do not know what will happen, because it will be a unique situation.” Finally, the Turin giants square-off against a Singapore select team on August 16. It represents the crux of their remaining preparations, with only the ‘family game’ at Villar Perosa and the TIM Trophy – against Milan and Sassuolo – to follow before facing Chievo in the Serie A opener.

Allegri knows this time is valuable. His coaching career to date has been punctuated by slow starts and it’s something he’ll hope to avoid given the early backlash to his appointment. Only once has his team picked up more than seven points in the opening four games and his Milan record was particularly poor. In Allegri’s first Milan season they won just once in that timeframe, in 2011-12 it was one win in five. A season later they lost five times in the opening eight rounds. And by the time he was sacked this past January, Milan had only claimed five wins in 19 outings.

The tour is where the Scudetto-winning Coach will learn about his squad in greater detail. From how training routines are put into practice to off-field preparation, recovery and team bonding, as well as the physical and mental conditioning that comes with quick-fire matches and travel. “We’re training to improve our physical condition. All friendlies are important and tomorrow will be a good workout for us,” he said yesterday. It’s also a first chance to look at new signings such as Evra and Romulo, while Roberto Pereyra and Kingsley Coman have another opportunity to make an early impression.

For the club the journey is a chance to foster relationships in a booming region, while Allegri and his players know that Asia offers critical grounding for Verona and the year ahead.

Has it occurred to anyone that Juve, far from being one of the worlds top clubs has now when it comes to acquisitions become a nonentity with their ridiculous offers for top players in completion with "Serious clubs" and their eventual signing of B class players.

It is time that Moratta and Agnelli stopped trying to kid us and admitted that they have no intention of spending real money to acquire some the worlds best players as in the days o Moggi despite his failings ty

on the 14th August, 2014 at 1:09pm

1897

@ dominator,How do you account for Italy's domination in Europe during the nineties, it's not our culture.In Juve's case last season Conte got his tactics wrong in CL and had some seriously bad luck.

on the 9th August, 2014 at 9:17am

nicola

Let's see what PEPE DOES this year, because he's the workhorse of this team when healthy, and his need is driven by his hunger to play...... he wears the shirt like the skin on his back....Let's not forget the 1st year when we went all season UNDEFEATED. last season he was one of the many factors they were missing that could've been game changers to our favour. He is the extra piece to the puzzle we were missing,,MARK MY WORDS...FORZA JUVE... FINO ALLA FINE. PEPE will be BACK.....

on the 8th August, 2014 at 8:08pm

manni

Maybe Conte wasn't upto it in Europe but we will never know at juve as hes gone and we didn't provide players for that to happen. We will see what he does IF he gets the backing at a club..we should have beaten Copenhagen home and away fact! We should have beaten gala at home fact! We didn't and it was frustrating as the potential was there, this year with allegri im not too sure as apart from 1st season at AC he was a disaster, but lets see come Xmas time where we are..forza juve always!

on the 7th August, 2014 at 7:02pm

manni

@ dominator hear ur point but Italy is not ss far behind sky sports would have u believe. Look at England how far did they get? Look at their teams? Look at their managers? Look at the club owners? Apart from utd who are a lucky club or were under fergie & dominated a mediocre league with MONEY what has anyone other club done? In Europe too? Plus look how much money they throw at the clubs and under achieved! Serie a needs reform from stadia to mentality, marketing & supporter friendly projects!

on the 7th August, 2014 at 6:34pm

manni

Cloud cuckoo land stories and theories on here! Fact is marrotta is out of his depth at juve for everyone good signing u can add 3 bad ones and not closing deals fast enough & not being able to sell are major issues ive said this from day one! Juve cannot expect to grow if consistent progression in champs league is not our aim, we will always be strong in Italy, our signings are not great lets be honest and Conte is a loss but life goes on and so will juve, if Vidal goes who comes?

on the 7th August, 2014 at 6:27pm

Socrates

Do not sale Vidal. You don't find that kind of unique player around the corner.

on the 7th August, 2014 at 6:19pm

Me

Lichesteiner is a great player. Better suited to playing a 4 man defense tho.

on the 7th August, 2014 at 5:00pm

Numero10

Quater finalists 2 years ago, knocked out by winners Bayern.This time round Juve preparations were late for first 2 champ league games. We lost to Real 2-1, played 2nd half wth 10 man. Had good chance to win that game. Then drew 2-2 at Turin. Against Gala in Istanbul we were dominating til the snowstorm cancelled game. Next day the pitch was a mess, and gala scored in dying mins. This happens, it's always a game. Just remind you Spain, Portugal & Italy got knocked out first round. It can happen

on the 7th August, 2014 at 3:53pm

Numero10

@ dominator, you are funny.

on the 7th August, 2014 at 3:43pm

mez

@No10_Manny - All clubs will always deny their big name players are on the market - otherwise their price will drop. If Manu offer something in the region of £50M, I would sell him. It will be mad no to. I dont think the new players Juve have brought in are going to give them the jump in quality and depth they need to challenge in Europe. I agree with Bojan 100%. BM does not have the guts to go after the players Juve really need - so he ends up collecting all the left overs and loaners.

on the 7th August, 2014 at 2:58pm

@No10_Manny

Evra offers great experience and strong play on left wing besides Asamoah, and whether it's lavezzi, Hernandez or Jovetic any one of those to come through would offer much better depth and can use other formations, Juventus constant denial of Vidal moving is encouraging that we are not a selling club, another CB coming in as said by morrota also encouraging, we are stronger than last season on many fronts, regardless what happens FORZA JUVE !

on the 7th August, 2014 at 1:42pm

@No10_Manny

Quite frankly I'm upset with majority of you Juventus supporters, we stand behind our team regardless of our manager, were the three times in a row winning Scudetto champions, besides the whole conte leaving I see nothing but Postives, Romulo and Pererya offer better rotation quality than poadin, Coemon another French youngster for the future, Allergi a great tactician (when he has good players) Morota a better option than previous ones Vucinic, Qaugliarella, Ovsaldo, Borriello, Bentner

on the 7th August, 2014 at 1:36pm

DOMINATOR

numero10 - earth the last time i checked.As for your finances argument, have you had a chance to look at Borussia Dortmund and Athletico Madrid. They don't throw money around they just play better football.

forzajuve - we are talking about today. Remind me what Italy did at this world cup. Proven to be effective? did you watch the Gala and Copenhagen games or the WC?

I watch football and clearly analyse it better than you do.

on the 7th August, 2014 at 12:44pm

Numero10

Guys, we need to focus on the present. And that present is we can't financially compete with some of the euro clubs that throw money at certain players. People criticise Marotta, but he has made some good buys and some good free players. Free players being Pirlo, pogba and Llorente.The squad is more competitive than last year with new players coming in that can only hopefully get better. Coman being another young player on a free transfer. All we need is a CB with speed, and another striker.

on the 6th August, 2014 at 10:51pm

maf

SyrJuve,

If by miracle they get Ibra then yes maybe, if not, No. Lichesteiner is also one of these oddities. Very attacking oriented, always hustling but lacking just a bit in quality. If they could only get someone like DiMaria then you would see some havoc in Europe. I suspect Conte was looking for certain players and just got fed up, imo.

on the 6th August, 2014 at 6:44pm

Me

The real importance could be Allegri trying Pogba in the more attacking role and finding out that, to this day, Allegri is an idiot.

on the 6th August, 2014 at 4:12pm

Forzajuve

Dominator: is that the slow, lazy style that won Italy the world cup 4 times, most recently in 2006, on a squad filled with Juventus players? What are you talking about? It's a defensive style, and it's been proven to be effective. If we added Messi and Ronaldo, Juventus would win the next 4 champions leagues. Do you watch football?

on the 6th August, 2014 at 3:36pm

Bojan

Marrone is not a defender, he was hardly 40% of what Bonucci is. Juve need world class defender to put Barzagli on the bench as he is slower and slower and Caceres and Ogbonna are somehow not Juve defense material.Lavezzi is cheap comparing to what he offers but Juventus needs bomber, something like Trezegol was. Marrotta never was and never will be someone who will make good world class moves, not like Moggi - the guy brought players in their best days. FORZA JUVENTUS

on the 6th August, 2014 at 3:10pm

Numero10

To Dominator, what planet you on?

on the 6th August, 2014 at 2:19pm

DOMINATOR

syrJuve

Juve could sign Messi and Ronaldo and they still would get nowhere in Europe. Reason being because the italian culture of football is slow and lazy. Everyone else uses stamina, power and speed. It's like having a Lion against a sloth.

Not pleased with the juve signings. Vidal and pogba blatantly want to leave. Players are losing confidence since Conte left. The team is weaker than last season.

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